In the News

Rethinking Schools, a publisher committed to equity and to the vision that public education is central to the creation of a humane, caring, multiracial democracy recently published Teaching for Black Lives a collection of writings highlighting the ways educators and administrators can and should make their classrooms and schools sites of resistance to white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Teaching for Black Lives challenges educators and administrators to examine the role schools play in perpetuating anti-Blackness and offers concrete examples of what it looks like to humanize Black youth in schools and Black people in curriculum and teaching . The day this book was placed in my hands I had the opportunity to meet with Deborah Menkart and Allyson Criner Brown of Teaching for Change during Washington D.C.’s participation in the National Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action to ask about the growing movement towards including ethnic studies, culturally relevant curriculum, and culturally responsive teaching in schools. Read more.

Anacostia High School (DCPS) psychologist Dr. Bryon McClure and librarian Nia Nicholas, along with Teaching for Change representative Nqobile Mthethwa, were interviewed on We Act Radio's Education Town Hall on Feb. 14, 2019. They discussed the 2019 Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, including events leading up to the week, where the movement in schools originated, activities at Anacostia HS, and the importance of the week to students. Listen online.

It was overcast outside Thursday afternoon, but a light of enthusiasm brightened the music room at Anacostia High School, 1601 16th Street, S.E.

“This is a beat and a culture that comes from our city,” said William “JuJu” House, legendary go-go drummer and musician, as he invited several Anacostia High School students to get into the pocket. Read more.

Dozens of early childhood teachers from around DC were gathered in a hotel conference room on an early Saturday morning to tackle a challenging and sensitive topic: how to talk about race with young students.

It was one of two training workshops the DC nonprofit Teaching for Change hosted to prepare for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, which starts today. Coinciding with Black History Month, the national campaign attempts to spark honest conversations on social justice issues in U.S. classrooms and improve the school experience for students of color. Read more.

This February, schools across the country will work in solidarity to launch a shared set of lessons and examine their schools’ policies in pursuit of social and educational equity for their black students. Read more.

The library was silent, a rarity at LaSalle-Backus Education Campus, a public school in Washington, DC. The fourth and fifth grade students were intensely focused on the video in front of them. Library media specialist Lindsay Hall was intently watching, too, while monitoring her kids’ reactions to the short video, which discussed the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, and violence against the black community.

Hall, one of the educators across the country who participated in the national Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action from February 5 to 9, was inspired to act and assisted in bringing the mission to the classroom by Teaching for Change, a DC-based non-profit organization based, with the goal of “building social justice, starting in the classroom.” Hall showed her older students a couple of videos that prompted thoughtful conversation, she says. Read more.

What color is innocence?” asked a student in 11th grade as she drew pictures with crayons and markers. She and five other students were in English class when their teacher, Topher Kandik, told them to draw four images to represent four statements and phrases he said out loud. Later at the end of the activity, Kandik revealed that the phrases were the last words Black people said before they were shot and killed by police officers.

Schools around the country participated in Black Lives Matter (BLM) Week of Action in Schools. The week, which takes place during Black History Month, is designed to highlight institutional racism, Black history, and identity and social justice issues through lessons and conversations in the classrooms. Read more.

A predominantly-black school district in Maryland has voted to start the “Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools.” For the week of Feb. 5-10, 2018, students in Prince George’s County are being encouraged to learn as much as they can about social justice through a variety of instructional lessons and other activities. Considering the current hostile racial climate, students will be encouraged to talk about their feelings and opinions on the subject. Read more.

The Prince George’s County school board voted unanimously on Friday to pass a resolution called the “Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools” so that the 128,000 students in the second-largest school district in Maryland will learn about and discuss the Black Lives Matter movement starting Monday... Read more.